NEW DELHI: For Indians accustomed to three-hour Bollywood movies, three-hour CWG opening ceremony and three hours of T20 excitement, watching Vijender Singh's bouts must be a very different experience. You blink and it's over.
On Sunday, in front of sell-out house, Singh showcased his version of the 'Theater of the Absurd' when the world champion floored Namibia's Elias Nashville in just 1 minute, 38 seconds in the first round with a piercing left that appeared from a distance to be just a graze to the chin.
Nashville, who fell due to the impact, tried to lift himself up and the crowd too hoped that he did. But Nashville's corner-men picked him up, pushed him gently down to the stool and removed the laces of his gloves before 23-year-old could even utter a word, thereby cutting short the Vijender-show by 7 minutes, 62 seconds.
Vijender blew plenty of kisses to express his appreciation of the noisy fans. In fact, it won't be stretching belief to say that he blew more kisses than he landed his counters. Vijender had earlier reached the quarterfinals on Friday when the referee had stopped the contest against his Kenyan opponent at 16-1 with 28 seconds remaining in the second round.
"I want to fight... knockout just happens," said Vijender (75kg), who reckoned that it's just not because of his reputation that his challengers are going down so easily. "It doesn't make a difference, if you go out there with a swagger. You have to punch them. Only then will they know about your reputation."
Meanwhile, defending champion Akhil Kumar bowed out after losing to Olympic bronze medalist Bruno Julie in the quarterfinals. "The effort was there but I lost... A loss is a loss. If I scream now about injustice, that scores weren't given on some of the punches, it won't matter. I'm not disappointed. If God has written this as my fate then I have to accept it," said Akhil, who had beaten Julie in the Melbourne Games final.
Akhil appeared a bit jaded and couldn't dig deep when it mattered. He lost 7-5. Meanwhile, Jai Bhagwan (60kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg), Dilbag Singh (69kg) all went through to the semifinals to assure India of more medals. Bhagwan blanked Waheed Sogbamu of Nigeria 10-0 while Dilbag overcame Botswana's Moabi Mothiba 11-3.
"If I get gold, my life will change. There will be fame and lots of financial benefits," said Bhagwan, who dedicated his medal to Vijender who motivated him to come back to the ring after a break of two years. "I was low on confidence going into the ring because Akhil had just lost. But as soon as my punches started landing and I started getting the scores, my confidence soared."
TOI
On Sunday, in front of sell-out house, Singh showcased his version of the 'Theater of the Absurd' when the world champion floored Namibia's Elias Nashville in just 1 minute, 38 seconds in the first round with a piercing left that appeared from a distance to be just a graze to the chin.
Nashville, who fell due to the impact, tried to lift himself up and the crowd too hoped that he did. But Nashville's corner-men picked him up, pushed him gently down to the stool and removed the laces of his gloves before 23-year-old could even utter a word, thereby cutting short the Vijender-show by 7 minutes, 62 seconds.
Vijender blew plenty of kisses to express his appreciation of the noisy fans. In fact, it won't be stretching belief to say that he blew more kisses than he landed his counters. Vijender had earlier reached the quarterfinals on Friday when the referee had stopped the contest against his Kenyan opponent at 16-1 with 28 seconds remaining in the second round.
"I want to fight... knockout just happens," said Vijender (75kg), who reckoned that it's just not because of his reputation that his challengers are going down so easily. "It doesn't make a difference, if you go out there with a swagger. You have to punch them. Only then will they know about your reputation."
Meanwhile, defending champion Akhil Kumar bowed out after losing to Olympic bronze medalist Bruno Julie in the quarterfinals. "The effort was there but I lost... A loss is a loss. If I scream now about injustice, that scores weren't given on some of the punches, it won't matter. I'm not disappointed. If God has written this as my fate then I have to accept it," said Akhil, who had beaten Julie in the Melbourne Games final.
Akhil appeared a bit jaded and couldn't dig deep when it mattered. He lost 7-5. Meanwhile, Jai Bhagwan (60kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg), Dilbag Singh (69kg) all went through to the semifinals to assure India of more medals. Bhagwan blanked Waheed Sogbamu of Nigeria 10-0 while Dilbag overcame Botswana's Moabi Mothiba 11-3.
"If I get gold, my life will change. There will be fame and lots of financial benefits," said Bhagwan, who dedicated his medal to Vijender who motivated him to come back to the ring after a break of two years. "I was low on confidence going into the ring because Akhil had just lost. But as soon as my punches started landing and I started getting the scores, my confidence soared."
TOI
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